IEP Chandigarh, June 20      

    Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan today announced that as part of the environment-friendly initiative, the entire proceedings of the house of legislative assembly will soon be paperless.          During the session, the Speaker informed that complying to the announcement of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during the budget session, the government has initiated the process of providing tablets on the tables of all the legislators, which will enable house proceedings through hi-tech medium.          He mentioned that the Governance Reforms Department has issued work order for procuring the tablets and all the proceedings of the assembly will be paperless from the next session. He stated that all the information related to the house will be communicated through the National e-Vidhan application and assembly documents will be laid electronically on the tables of the house.          S. Kultar Singh Sandhawalia asserted that with the implementation of this online system, whereas paper usage will be zeroed, it will also help in reducing pollution and will bring more transparency in the functioning of the assembly.          He informed that the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, in coordination with NIC Punjab and the Governance Reforms Department will organize special training on June 26, 2023 for all nodal officers of various departments of the state to provide them information regarding the responses to the notices sent by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat.          He said that the apert from this, under the initiative of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann, a two-day workshop will also be conducted in the month of July for all legislators, wherein all the legislators will be provided with detailed information about the new online system and the project.

IEP Chandigarh, June 20       

   The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday passed a resolution against the Central Government for not releasing the Rural Development Fee (R.D.F.) amounting to Rs. 3622.40 crores for the last four seasons.          The official resolution was moved by Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khuddian on the concluding day of the two-day Punjab Assembly Session. After discussion in the house, the resolution was passed.          Notably, the Rural Development Fee (RDF) and the Market Development Fee (MDF) at the rate of 3 per cent of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the wheat and paddy crop was supposed to be released by the Centre.           Describing the Centre’s move arbitrary and intimidating, S Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said that Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government will fight tooth and nail against the step-motherly treatment being meted to Punjab by union government. RDF is a legal right of the state, he reiterated.           Recalling those days of 1962  when on the one call of then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Punjabis had put everything on stake including quintals of Jewellery and Crores of Rupees to bring out the country from crisis. The Centre Government must remember the unparalleled contribution of Punjab in freedom struggle and in making the country self-reliant in food.           The resolution said, “Due to non-release of Rural Development Fee (R.D.F.) for the last four seasons (KMS 2021-22, RMS 2022-23, KMS 2022-23 & RMS 2023-24) by the Government of India, the rural development works of the State of Punjab are being adversely affected. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha strongly condemns that despite the requisite amendments in the Punjab Rural Development Act, 1987, as directed by Government of India, being passed by this August House and consequent notification published in the official gazette by the present State Government on 18.07.2022, Government of India has not yet released the withheld amount of Rs. 3622.40 Crores towards Rural Development Fee @3% accumulated for the last four seasons on agricultural produce bought from the State of Punjab.”           The Agriculture Minister said that the State of Punjab has created huge market infrastructure unparalleled to any other State. The R.D.F.  is utilised solely for the welfare of farmers of the State and development of rural infrastructure including maintenance and creation of rural mandis and rural link roads for enabling easy access in transporting agricultural produce to the nearest mandis. Thus, due to non-release of Rural Development fee by the Government of India, all the rural developmental activities in Punjab have come to a halt.           The House also recommended to the State Government to approach the Central government for the release of withheld Rural Development Fee amounting to Rs. 3622.40 crores immediately so as to continue with the uninterrupted developmental activities for the welfare of farmers and rural population of the State of Punjab.

IEP Chandigarh, June 20      

    Punjab Athlete Tajinderpal Singh Toor created a new Asian and National Record by throwing 21.77 meters in the shot put event at the ongoing Inter-State National Athletics Meet at Bhubaneswar.          Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer congratulated the Athlete Tajinderpal Singh Toor for this proud achievement and said that the state is proud of Toor. Earlier, the Asian and National Records were also held by Tajinderpal Singh Toor. Toor broke his own old record and created a new record at Bhubaneswar. The Sports Minister wished the Athlete for the upcoming sports competitions and expressed hope that the name of the country and the state will shine like before.          Moga-based Athlete Tajinderpal Singh Toor also qualified for the Asian Games to be held in China this year with this achievement. It may be mentioned that Toor won the gold medal in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018.

IEP Chandigarh, June 20    

      From the freedom struggle of the country to guarding the international borders after independence, Punjab has been at the forefront in making the most sacrifices and farmers in filling the country’s food reserves, but the stepmotherly  treatment by the central government against Punjab will not be tolerated. The GoI has withheld the amount of Rural Development Fund (RDF) thus acting against the farmers of the state which will not be tolerated.          It was stated by Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha while speaking on the resolution moved by Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudiyan for the immediate release of the withheld amount of RDF. Criticizing the boycott by the main opposition party Congress, he said that it would be good if the entire House in one voice forwards its demand to the Center on the resolution brought for the good of Punjab.          Meet Hayer said that the Center is deliberately harassing the farmers of Punjab, who brought the country out of the food crisis at a difficult time, due to their struggle against black agricultural laws. RDF is no charity, this is the right of the state. The Center has withheld Rs. 3622.40 crore from Punjab from 2021-22 to 2023-24. Along with the hard work of farmers, Punjab has also sacrificed its natural resources, water and soil. RDF provides for the development of villages, link roads and Mandis which are development projects directly related to farmers.          The minister said that despite the discrimination of the centre, the State Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is doing major development works in the state including giving 600 units of free electricity, providing government jobs, establishing road infrastructure, and regularising of contractural employees. With the better administrative arrangements made by the state, the budget presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema saw increase in the revenue by 40 percent.          Meet Hayer said that the previous Congress government took a loan against RDF and misuse these funds, which is a complete deception of the farmers. He said that the parties sitting in the opposition also had governments at the Center from time to time but nowhere did they take the stand in favour of Punjab. Along with suffering from terrorism, the deployment of the military in that period also raised debt. Punjab was made to suffer losses by giving special packages to other states and giving tax concessions to neighbouring states. 

IEP Chandigarh, June 16

 In consonance with the aim of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to make youth of Punjab self-employed, Punjab Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Department will impart four-week dairy entrepreneurship training to the youth and farmers of the state.Divulging the details, Mr. Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Dairy Development said that the intent of this initiative is to impart skill training to the youth, so that, they can adopt the cooperative profession of dairy, which will give a boost to the agricultural economy.The Cabinet Minister said that a new batch of this four weeks training will be started by the Department from July 03, 2023. He urged farmers, especially the young farmers, to undergo training and take up dairy farming on a commercial scale, so that the income of the farmers will get a push.Mr Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said that the aspiring youth interested to enrol themselves for training can get the prospectus form from any district office of Dairy Development department Punjab or related training centres i.e. Abul Khurana (Sri Muktsar Sahib), Chatamli (Ropar), Bija (Ludhiana), Phagwara (Kapurthala), Sardulgarh (Mansa), Verka (Amritsar), Gill (Moga), Tarn Taran and Sangrur.Following this, the candidates must complete the application enclosed in the prospectus and get it attested by the Deputy Director Dairy of the district concerned and submit it to their first priority training center or carry it along with the documents at the time of counselling.The Cabinet Minister said that the age of the aspirant must be 18-45 years and the educational qualification of a candidate should be at least 10th pass. The selection of eligible candidates will be done by the Departmental Committee on first-come-first-served basis at the respective training centres on June 28, 2023.Mr Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said that the interested applicants could seek further information in this regard from the department’s telephone no. 0172- 5027285 or contact the office of the Deputy Director Dairy in their respective district. 

IEP Chandigarh, June 16

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday batted for optimum utilisation of The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme to give boost to development in rural areas on one hand and provide livelihood opportunities on the other hand.

Chairing a meeting here to review the functioning of scheme here today, the Chief Minister said that this scheme is important as it provides enhancement of livelihood security, giving at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. He said that the scheme  has been implemented in all districts across the state from April 2008 adding that state government will enhance the budget of this ambitious scheme upto Rs 2000 crore. Bhagwant Mann said that it is heartening to learn that 11.53 lakh active job cards are there in state with 14.86 lakh active workers.

The Chief Minister bemoaned that wage rate notified under MGNREGA for State Rs 303/- is less in comparison to neighbouring State Haryana where it is Rs 357 adding that the state government will vehemently raise this issue with the Union government. He also said that state government will also make concerted efforts for Inclusion of “Laying of Underground Pipeline” activities in Permissible List for accelerating works relating irrigation, water supply and sanitation can be undertaken. Bhagwant Mann also said that the state Government will also request government of India to provide Corpus funds under the scheme.

The Chief Minister also said that the state government will also seek enhancement of Mandays Budget given by GOI as only 250 lakh mandays target for the State has been assigned which is too less than previous year achievement of 321 lakh mandays. He also underscored the need to further popularise the scheme for giving benefits to the common man. Bhagwant Mann also said that an information board should be installed at every work place under the scheme so that awareness can be created among the general public about the scheme and the details of the work done can reach the people

The Chief Minister also asked the officers to popularise the scheme through social media platforms like Facebook Page, YouTube Channel, twitter and WhatsApp groups for the purpose of sharing Best Practices and for disseminating requisite information to the rural masses. Bhagwant Mann envisioned that the scheme can be a game changer in transforming the lives of weaker and underprivileged sections besides giving impetus to development works in rural areas.

IEP Chandigarh, June 13   

       Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday asked the Department of Social Justice to redress the 93 complaints received against persons acquiring government employment on the basis of fake SC certificates, within 15 days.          Chairing a meeting along with Minister for Social Justice, Empowerment and Minority Dr. Baljeet Kaur with the representatives of ‘Reservation Chor Fado Morcha’ here at Punjab Bhawan, the Finance Minister also asked the Social Justice Department to take action within a month on the list of other such cases provided by the leaders of the Morcha. He said that the department should coordinate with the Advocate General’s office to ensure concrete action regarding such cases that are under trial in various courts.          Emphasizing on creating a complete check on the practice of obtaining reservation in government jobs through fake certificates, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema asked the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities to write to all government departments to ensure that the documents related to reservation claim should be thoroughly scrutinized during the probation period of the concerned person. He also asked the department to prepare a proposal regarding the necessary reforms need in the process of making caste-based certificates so that this problem can be eradicated from the roots.          During the meeting, the representatives of the ‘Reservation Chor Fado Morcha’ discussed in detail about the cases of getting government employment on the basis of fake SC certificates. On this, Additional Chief Secretary Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities Department Ramesh Kumar Ganta said that the department has so far received a total of 93 complaints out of which 26 cases have been heard and forwarded further to the Scrutiny Committee. Director Social Justice Jaspreet Singh apprised the ministers that the remaining 77 cases will also be heard soon. He assured that all these matters will be resolved within a month.

IEP Chandigarh, June 13

:The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, on Tuesday nabbed an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI/LR) Bhupinder Singh posted at Police Station, Chatiwind (Amritsar) for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000.Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said the accused police official has been arrested on the complainant of Sarwan Singh, resident of village Gurwali in district Amritsar.Giving details, he added that the complainant has approached the Police Station VB Range Amritsar and lodged complaint that ASI Bhupinder Singh has demanded Rs 10,000 as a bribe to help him in getting regular bail from High Court in the case registered against him and others under sections of 323, 379-A, 427, 452, 506, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station Chatiwind on 13-02-2023. The ASI Bhupinder Singh was investigating the case.The spokesperson informed that after preliminary investigation of this complaint, a team of VB Police Station, Amritsar Range laid a trap and arrested the accused police official red handed while accepting bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.In this regard, a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused ASI at VB police station, Amritsar Range. Further investigation in this case was under progress.